Eye of the Beholder
by Lauraena
Summary: Present day--Cinderella is an outcast goth named Harmony who is abused by her stepmother and stepsister, after a particularly bad fight she calls Jason (her prince charming) and he shows her that not everything is as bad as she thinks.


**Eye of the Beholder**

**Author's Note: **Just a little Cinderella spin off that I wrote for creative writing and decided it was post worthy—I hope you all agree!!!  If you are a Final Fantasy fan check out some of my other fics—I also have another Cinderella-ish one shot, and a longer fic (Cinderella again—I really like the plotline ) in the works!

**Disclaimer:**  I own nothing—not even my soul…

The gym is filled with students, all milling around and waiting for the pep rally to begin, stalling it for as long as they can.  The voices of over fifteen hundred people, students and faculty alike, create a dull roar, which rises every minute, drowning out the band feebly playing the school song.  If one had courage enough to meander through this crowd they would hear conversations ranging from last night's Spanish homework to whom got an abortion over the weekend, but these topics were few and far between, because the hottest topic of conversation for the past three weeks had been, and still was, prom.

Just three days away it was all anyone could talk about.  For the girls it was all about who got the best dress, the best hair do, and the best boyfriend.  Even the male portion of the student population got into it, though their 'honors' were rewarded after prom.  If you were prom king you were admired, if you wore a powder blue tux you were daring, and if you got laid you were a god.

But in the midst of all this chaos there was one member of the student body curled in a corner of the bleachers, her knees tucked under her chin as she stared a group of giggling cheerleaders, a scowl tugging at the corners of her mouth.  All these girls were fawning over the ringed object of their attentions—Jason Smith.

Jason, the 'prince charming' of the senior class, this year's candidate for prom king, and the best looking guy that didn't have a date for prom, and didn't want one.  This secluded girl looked down on everyone and realized how much she detested them, particularly the cheerleaders.  She especially detested Heather, her stepsister—couple that with the fact that she was captain of the cheerleading squad then her view of the spoiled brat grew from detesting to full fledged hate.

Heather, the 'wonderful daughter,' the cheerleader, the president of student council, the girl scout, involved in every extracurricular activity that didn't involve thinking, little miss I-am-friends-with-everyone.  In short, Heather was your cliché all around perfect goody-two shoes—every controlling mother's dream, which is why she and her mother, Claudia, went together like black and Goth.

Then there was she, Harmony.  The rebellious one, the 'unwanted stepchild' (though she swears things would have been better had she been a boy), not involved in any extracurricular activities, Internet nerd, gaming junkie, borderline Goth, the 'wild child'—something straight out of Claudia's worst nightmares.

Claudia was the reason Harmony's life was a living hell—she was treated no better than a servant by her stepmother and stepsister.  Anyone brave enough to risk incurring the wrath of Claudia and take interest in Harmony's home life would swear her life was scripted to be a modern version of _Cinderella_ and that she got to play the leading role, and that her wicked family wasn't really wicked, just a good set of really good actors.

Well, Harmony's life wasn't a movie script, there wasn't any glitz or glamour, and Claudia and Heather weren't actors, they were just out and out mean people.

The bell rang, signaling the end of school, and thus the end of Harmony's solace, now she had to return home to Claudia and her bitter words.  With a sigh Harmony grabbed her black sling pack and dropped the strap across her chest, then she darted out of the gym and made a beeline for Heather's car.  Upon approaching it she almost wished she had walked home because her stepsister and her stoner friends were leaning against the car.

Harmony took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting backwards from ten, like Joseph, her counselor, told her to do. Upon reaching the number one Harmony approached her stepstister.  "Hey Heather, can I have a ride home?"

Heather turned to face her stepsister, a malicious grin dancing across her candy colored lips.  "And why should _I _give a ride to a bitch like _you?_"

"Because I asked…" Said Harmony timidly, not wanting to invite Heather's wrath because it would surely mean another beating from Claudia.

"Well it was nice of you to do so, but I am afraid I will have to decline."  Heather replied, her words dripping with sugar coated sarcasm.

Harmony frowned, her anger rising.  Fate had dealt Harmony a cruel hand in life, with an abusive stepmother and her own anger management problems, though the counselor she saw daily said it was 'conflict resolution issues.'  Whatever it was it caused her to be prone to violent anger 'attacks,' which only resulted in more abuse from Claudia, she and her stepmother went together like oil and water. "And _you_ say _I'm_ the bitch…" Harmony muttered spitefully under her breath.

Heather gasped, and dramatically put a hand over her mouth, pretending to be hurt by her stepsister's words.  "Oh Harmony, why are you always so mean to me?"

With a roll of her blue eyes at her stepsister's over dramatized display she mimicked Heather's tinny voice.  "Why are you always so mean to me?"

"Do you honestly want to know Harmony?"

A range of emotions flowed across Harmony's face, ranging from confusion to outrage.  "I was mocking you, but you want to tell me why you are so rude to me, go ahead."

Heather clapped her hands in an excited and decidedly cheerleader-ish manner before she launched into her explanation.  "Well, the reason I am so meant to you is because I am the trendsetter for our class, I have always been.  So I set the trend to hate you, because if I didn't hate you, no one would."

At this justification Harmony's rage boiled and she glared dangerously at her stepsister.  "The reason everyone shuns me and hates me is because you set the TREND?!  You say it like I'm a pair of pants that went out of season!"

Several students turned to stare at Harmony as she half-shouted at her sister.  A group of people near by shot her comments such as 'loony' or 'freak,' but she ignored them, being used to those types of derogatory terms.

"Forget this, I'm walking home." Said Harmony as she turned on her hell, biting the inside of her lip while her black boots clomped methodically on the snow covered asphalt as she walked across it—with a bitter wish of being able to control her anger problems whispered into the frigid wind.

At the back of her mind Harmony vaguely wondered why she had bothered to ask Heather for a rid, she knew her stepsister would refuse.  First she would ask for a ride, then Heather would refuse, it was a normal conversation, and because of it she knew the exact number of steps to her house.  It was somewhere in the thousands. 

Shivering as snowflakes danced around her form and settled in her hair, Harmony trudged across the icy parking lot, mentally counting her steps to distract her from the cold air as a wind as bitter as her stepsister's words swept across her face.

"Hey! Harmony!" A voice called from behind her.

Harmony stopped and looked over her shoulder as Jason Smith pulled up beside her in his metallic black Shelby GT 500.  "What do you want?"

"Well I thought you might like a ride home since it's snowing and all."

Harmony stood there in the snow for a moment as she weighed her options—walk home and become a Popsicle or get a ride home with the hottest guy in the senior class.  She only thought about it for a nanosecond before she chose the second option.

"Sure I'd like a ride," she said, as she walked around to the passenger side of the car and climbed in.

"Where do you live?"

"1435 Juniper Lane, you know, the big white house."

"Oh," said Jason, casting her a wary look.  "You are Heather's stepsister…"

"Yea, what of it?"  Asked Harmony sharply, some of her anger from the encounter with Heather still lingering.

"Well it's just that…she is a total air headed lulu, a typical cheerleader, I figured that since you two were raised in the same house that you would be the same way…stereotypical of me, huh?"

Harmony stared out the window and nodded slightly.  "Yea, just a little…so why are you giving me a ride home again?"

Jason shrugged.  "Because it was snowing, because you looked cold, because I've always wanted to talk to you because you always look so downtrodden and lonely."

"So that's it? You pity me?"

"No," said Jason quickly. "You are just not very mainstream, it seems like you would have something interesting to say."

"I don't talk much in case you haven't noticed."

"I did."

Harmony turned her face slightly to catch a view of Jason in the rear-view mirror.  "Hey, sorry I was so snippy…it's just that I've never actually had a sincere conversation with anyone that didn't end up with me being abused, verbally or otherwise…"

"Oh…" He said sympathetically.  "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Harmony whispered.  "I don't need your sympathy."

Jason gently spun the steering wheel and pulled into Harmony's driveway then pulled out a piece of paper and pressed it into her hand.  "Here is my cell phone number, call me if you need to talk, because it seems like you need someone to show you how to smile again, you seem like a really depressed person."

"I don't need another shrink to diagnose me, thank you very much!" Said Harmony.

"Remember, if you need anything give me a call, even if you need me to open a jar of mayonnaise."

A weak smile tugged at the corners of Harmony's mouth. "I like mayonnaise."

Jason laughed and shifted his car into reverse.  "See you Harmony."

Harmony waved to Jason and then walked up the steps to her places of residence, it wasn't really her home because Harmony believed in the old cliché 'home is where the heart is.'  Her heart definitely didn't belong here, so it wasn't her home.  Harmony slunk inside the excessively large house, hoping Claudia wouldn't notice her, a futile wish.

Claudia was stretched across her velveteen lounger, talking quickly into the phone, seeing her stepdaughter enter she quickly hung up and rounded on Harmony, her eyes blazing. 

"What is this I hear about you insulting my precious Heather?"  Demanded Claudia.

Harmony very slowly counted backwards from ten, attempting to contain her temper, her eyelids sliding halfway closed as to block out the sight of her stepmother who bore an appearance akin to that of a raging bull.

"Answer me!"

"She insulted me first." Said Harmony softly.

"Don't lie to me.  Remember I am the reason you are not a foster child."

"I'm not lying."  Harmony replied through clenched teeth, her anger roiling.

"More lies!  Well its no wonder, I mean your dear, dear mother Lissa was a chronic liar after all."  Said Claudia, a maliciously dreamy look in her eyes.

"Don't insult my mother."

"I'm not, I'm simply stating what was known to everyone.  It was plainly obvious that your precious mother was a liar and a wanton whore, you do know that you were born out of wedlock, don't you?"

Harmony's hands slowly clenched into fists as she stopped hearing Claudia's words and began hearing only her sharply edged monotonous voice ringing in her ears with insults being hurled at her deceased mother.  She counted backwards from twenty, but it didn't work.  At Claudia's comment about her mother being a 'wanton whore' Harmony lost all self-control and roughly slapped her stepmother.  Ten seconds later she realized her folly, fifteen seconds later she was on the floor, her lip split open and bleeding profusely.  Tears began cascading down her face, more from hatred at life in general and anger than pain.  Harmony roughly wiped away her tears then pushed herself up off the floor and bolted for the front door and threw it open—she then jumped down the marbled front steps and sprinted down the road.  Vaguely she noticed that Claudia decided not to follow her—this time, and she was thankful for that.

A mile and twelve minutes later Harmony was breathing heavily as she dropped onto a bench in the middle of Pine Crest Park.  A streetlamp flickered on overhead as she pulled out her cell phone and punched in a set of numbers on the illuminated keypad. 

"Jason here."

"It's Harmony…I'm at Pined Crest Park…please come…please…"  Harmony managed to choke out between sobs; as soon as Jason agreed to come she put her phone back in her purse and curled up on the wooden bench, shivering due to the cold night air.

The sun had fully set and stars were winking into view when Harmony felt a hand fall on her shoulder.  She jumped, startled, and turned to see Jason, whom gasped as he saw her blood and tear stained face.

"I know…I'm a mess…"

"What happened?"  Jason asked, as he sat next to Harmony and brushed her hair out of her face.

Harmony winced as some of her hair that had gotten stuck to her lip pulled away, but she didn't let her pain show.  "Claudia happened…I hate this…"

"You hate what?"  Jason inquired gently.

"Life…" Harmony replied, as if it were obvious.  "It is so dark and painful…it just all around sucks…I don't see why some people are gifted with good lives and I have to deal with shit like this on a daily basis…"

"You make it sound horrible…"

"It is."

"No its not…" Jason replied, while putting an arm around Harmony to comfort her.  "It is all in the eye of the beholder, you can choose to see only the bad things about life and focus on them, or you can see the beauty and let it outshine the darkness."

"You make it sound easy."

"I never said it was easy, you just need to change your perspective."

"How?" Harmony asked.

"Start with not letting your family get to you…smile more…laugh…trust people…learn how to love…"

"None of that is ever going to happen, you are wasting your time here."  Harmony said testily, then she got up and walked over to a swing and sat on it, wrapping her arms around the chilled metal chains.

Jason got up and followed her.  He approached from behind and gently pushed the swing so it rocked forward slightly.  "No I'm not—you just need some support, and I have faith in you."

"Why are you doing this?  I scarcely spoke to you before today!" Harmony cried, exasperation tingeing her voice.

"Because everyone needs someone to care about them…especially you.  You need someone to give you a reality check and show you that the world isn't all bad.  You need help seeing the beauty of the world around you and the beauty within yourself."

Harmony stood up abruptly and turned to face him.  "If I'm beautiful you're my fucking guardian angel—sent down from heaven to protect me and make everything kittens and rainbows again."

Jason shrugged.  "Well I'm not you 'fucking' guardian angel—but if you want me to be your angel I can be. "

In that moment Harmony began to cry.  Jason pushed aside the swing and stepped towards her, wrapping his arms around her slight form and holding her close.  "What is wrong?"

"No one has ever told me I was beautiful or that I am worth protecting…it made me feel like I am worth something, that I can be more than my stepmother's lackey."

"You deserve better Harmony," said Jason, gently stroking her hair.

"Then make it better." Harmony whispered.

"I'll try."

"This is part of the goodness, right?"

"It is," said Jason with a smile.

"Then I think I'm beginning to see the beauty."


End file.
